But Sunday, so many years later, when Portland's springy-legged kids came at the Rockets with the NBA's all-time youngest backcourt, the Rockets shut them down with the NBA's oldest player.

In a performance that, if not a throwback to his glory days, was certainly reminiscent of last season, Mutombo keyed the Rockets' second-half run to a 100-86 win Sunday, their eighth straight against the Trail Blazers and third in a row on the season.

But if beating the Blazers these days cannot qualify as the Rockets' greatest victory, Sunday's was one of their favorites because it came with 39-year-old Mutombo keying their second-half surge out of trouble.

"Not only what he represents off the court. He does a lot for his country and all that stuff.

"But he's just fun. And when you see him on the court, he might be messing up everything, but when I see him getting the job done at however old he is, it's fun to watch. That's my guy. I love Deke."

Love that Deke

More than love him, the Rockets needed him Sunday when, with Yao Ming in unshakeable foul trouble and held to nine points and five rebounds, Mutombo had seven points, nine rebounds and 18 minutes of playing time, helping the Rockets turn around what had been a dangerously tight game.

"Yeah, it feels good," Mutombo said. "Yao got into foul trouble early. I got a chance to play some good minutes. It's not easy out there. They were dominating us on the offensive end and defensive end in rebounds. We had to box them out. I was glad we were able to change that in the second half."

The Rockets hit the Blazers with swarming and sticky defense throughout the game. They held forward Zach Randolph to 15 points on just 6-of-22 shooting. Portland made just 30 of 79 field-goal attempts (38 percent).

But the Blazers had 10 points in the first half off offensive boards to waste the Rockets' efforts defensively. When the Rockets shut that down — the Blazers had just two second-chance points in the second half — the Rockets needed only for McGrady to take over offensively long enough to build a secure lead.

That came in the second half when he pushed the Rockets to a 15-point third-quarter lead and in the fourth quarter when the Blazers had cut the lead to seven only to have McGrady offer one more scoring burst.

"In the fourth quarter, my thing is when we got a lead to not let teams gain any ground on us, stay sharp on the offensive end, execute, and I had it rolling," McGrady said. "Those guys were double-teaming me, and it didn't matter. I was still finding ways to make shots and find other guys to make shots as well."

McGrady's 35 points matched his season high, though he had to take 31 shots, 12 more than his season average, to get them. He added seven rebounds, two blocked shots, three steals and his usual four assists.

"Yeah, he's pretty good," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Both teams are probably in the same place, but he is obviously a superior player you can go to in the fourth quarter, and he can get you quality shots. You don't know if he's going to make, but you're going to get a quality shot."

The Blazers closed within a point after the 20-year-old Telfair and 19-year-old Webster hit consecutive 3s. When the Rockets rushed through an 8-0 run and outscored the Blazers 17-6 to end the third quarter, it was capped by Mutombo's three-point play to give him a seven-point quarter, more than he had scored in any game this season.

Swift chips in

When Stromile Swift tipped in a McGrady miss and McGrady scored inside to open the fourth quarter, the Rockets had their largest lead, 72-57.

"The old fella came in, and he's fresh and looked really sharp," McGrady said.

"He did a great job defending ... and ... rebounding. Deke came in and gave us what we really needed and what he's here for. For him to be 38 or 58 years old, he did a phenomenal job tonight."

The Trail Blazers' kids could have asked their fathers but now don't have to. Instead, while the Rockets as usual estimated how old Mutombo really is, the Blazers could wonder how young.

Rockets Summary

Inside the numbers

7 — Rockets' turnovers, five fewer than their previous low in a game this season.

4-1 — Rockets' record when committing fewer turnovers than their opponent.

48 — Rockets' points in the paint, their most this season.

21 — Rockets' assists, their most since Nov. 12 in New Jersey.

3 — 100-point games for the Rockets in the past five contests.

0 — 100 point games for the Rockets in the first 14 games this season.

Last word

"I thought he did fine. He's played pretty well for us. I don't think he played well because he had issues with management. If he had issues with management, that's like two separate things.

"Controversy is overblown, overhyped, overdone, over-talked about, overwritten about and over-listened to. Everybody seems more interested in the sideshows than the actual game. I like the game." — Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy on Derek Anderson's first game in Portland since leaving the Blazers.